Joe Mazzulla discusses destroying Celtics media in pickup game on Zolak & Bertrand
Joe Mazzulla and his coaching staff embarrassed sportswriters in a basketball game, allowing only two baskets the entire contest.
When the Celtics media corps arrived at the Auerbach Center for press conferences and a basketball game, Joe Mazzulla presented an unexpected twist to those members planning to play in the typical media vs media contest.
Instead, it was media vs coaches.
Boston deployed a unit consisting of former NBA players — Phil Pressey and DaSean Butler — and Division I players, such as Fairmont State's God Shammgod Jr., Duke’s Amile Jefferson, Bucknell’s DJ MacLeay and Richmond’s Tony Dobbins. Not to mention Mazzulla’s experience leading West Virginia to the Final Four in 2010. And they played against sportswriters.
The game went exactly how one would expect, as the Celtics coaching staff trounced team media, 57-4, before reporters played against one another in a more competitive contest. The event was sponsored by the Junior Celtics Academy, so it was at least for a cause outside of coaches humiliating the people that cover them.
And as Mazzulla explained in his weekly interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Zolak & Bertrand, he enjoyed getting to see Celtics reporters take the court with him for a different kind of competition. Different than one for clicks or ratings, or the typical back-and-forth at the podium.
“It was cool because you got to see how competitive these guys and girls (are), and really how much they like the game,” Mazzulla said. “A guy got an offensive rebound; one guy shoved him to the ground because he was pissed at him. Who’s throwing F-bombs because they turned the ball over? We're all the same when we get into a competitive environment.”
Mazzulla clarified the intent of the game with Zolak & Bertrand, explaining that the benefits of the pickup game were to get to know each other outside the traditional methods. He added that reporters and the coaching staff talked for 20 minutes after the game, while even some players — including Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who asked media members if they wanted to do interviews after their loss — watched from above.
“(It’s) kind of the world we live in today, where one tweet doesn't tell the whole story, or you missed the context of what the point of something like that is,” Mazzulla said. “The intention of it wasn't to get out, but that's kind of the world we live in.”
